अधियज्ञः कथं कोऽत्र देहेऽस्मिन्मधुसूदन।प्रयाणकाले च कथं ज्ञेयोऽसि नियतात्मभिः॥
adhiyajñaḥ kathaṃ ko ’tra dehe ’smin madhusūdanaprayāṇa-kāle ca kathaṃ jñeyo ’si niyatātmabhiḥ
Word by word
The verse says
Who is the ground of sacrifice, here in this body, Krishna? And at the hour of leaving, how are you to be known by those who have steadied themselves?
In plain words
The second question is the one he actually cares about.
Arjuna is asking about the last moment. He is standing between two armies when he asks it, so this is not a thought experiment for him.
Everything the chapter says about death is an answer to a question that was asked, not a warning that was volunteered.
Where you've felt this · in sport
Your friend spends a month reading about running — shoe types, training plans, what to eat, how to breathe. Then, three days before his first race, he asks the only question he genuinely needs answered: what do I actually do on the morning itself. Everything before that was preparation for asking it.
Going deeper
Wanting to know about the last hour is not morbid, and the book does not treat it as such.
Arjuna has spent seven chapters on how to live. Now he asks how this holds up at the one moment when nothing can be adjusted, nothing postponed, and no more practice is possible. It is a fair test of any teaching, and he applies it.
The honesty of who is asking matters for everything that follows. Krishna does not raise the subject of death in order to make Arjuna anxious about it. Arjuna raises it, and Krishna answers.
Which means that when the next verses describe the final moment, they are not threatening you. They are answering a question a frightened man asked on a battlefield, and answering it kindly.